CREATE Translation Minigrants are awarded to fund new pilot initiatives, demonstration projects, or social ventures that lead to the translation of research products into deployable usable technologies or technology artifacts in real use. The initiative is aimed at focusing on quality of life for individuals with disabilities, including addressing high unemployment and underemployment rates, lack of access to education, or community engagement opportunities.
For purposes of this grant, the intervention must reverberate beyond the academic institution alone. Ideas should be innovative within the community to which they are applied. Funding is limited to $10,000 or less.
Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis with a review timeline of about 4 weeks.
Eligibility
- Full-time or part-time faculty with regular or fixed-term appointments are eligible to apply as PI or Co-PI, as are professional staff. All applicants must have PI status as determined by their dean. Applicants must hold an eligible rank that is active in the UW’s Workday system at the time of submission.
- Those with acting, temporary, affiliate, visiting, or postdoctoral appointments are ineligible to apply as PI or Co-PI, but may be included in the budget for the project team. Affiliate or visiting faculty may not receive salary, but can be involved on the project team, just not as PI/Co-PI.
- At least one applicant must be a CREATE faculty member.
- Translation grants are not intended to fund research project expansions or bring proven projects to new communities, unless there is a significant scale, scope, or replicable component; and they do not fund any purely research-based project nor any education or training projects without a significant deployment component.
- Preference is given to PIs or co-PIs not already funded by CREATE during the current academic year.
Review criteria
Four main criteria:
- Importance of the problem:
- Clearly describes need and target population.
- Advances CREATE’s mission: “to make technology accessible, and to make the world accessible through technology.”
- Addresses a significant need of individuals with disabilities.
- Would benefit from translation funding.
- Could have a beneficial impact on the target population.
- The extent to which the proposed project:
- Identifies a significant need and a well-defined target population for the new or improved product.
- Shows awareness of the state-of-the-art for current, related products.
- Employs appropriate concepts, study methodologies, components, or systems to develop the new or improved product, given the stage of development it is at.
- Conducts development activities in appropriate environment(s).
- Is feasible, given the current state of the science and the time and resources available.
- Is shaped by the input of individuals with disabilities and other key stakeholders. For example, is there substantive involvement in the definition and execution of the proposed work; does the project include feedback from people with disabilities or a study involving disabled participants; will the project result in new information, technology, or other resources that positively impact people with disabilities?
- Addresses any ethical concerns.
- Is the team suitable, engaged with CREATE, and likely to benefit from the funding?
- What positive impact(s) is this likely to have on CREATE
Reporting requirements
- Any significant changes must be approved by CREATE leadership.
- Any papers, posters, videos, etc. published from work supported by this funding, whatever the amount used, must acknowledge CREATE with the following: “This work was supported in part by the University of Washington Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE).” If space is limited, this short version is permissible, something like, “This work was supported by UW CREATE.”
- Any students heavily involved in the work are expected to become an active CREATE member (e.g., join Slack, join CREATE mailing lists, attend CREATE events, etc.).
- Recipients are expected to participate in Community day/research showcase.
- Recipients are expected to submit a short written summary of how the funds were spent a year after receiving the funding. Faculty agree to allow CREATE to use this information in fundraising, presentations, and promotional efforts. The report should include the following:
- A short paragraph describing: (a) the problem addressed or opportunity pursued, (b) the results achieved (including any publications), (c) how the funding was helpful, (d) information about any further funding submitted or received as a result of this work, and (e) information about translation successes (e.g., blog posts, patents, productization, adoption by others, community or industry engagements, etc.).
- A description of any stakeholder engagement in the project.
- A list of students supported and whether those students are CREATE members, along with contact information so we can ensure they get on CREATE mailing lists.
- A list of faculty involved in the project.
Application instructions
Proposals should be limited to 2 pages (plus references, images, and supplemental documents, as specified below).
Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis with a review timeline of about 4 weeks.
Formatting
Proposals must follow the following standards:
- Submitted as a single accessible PDF or Word file (you can download a Google doc as a Word file). See UW IT’s guidance on making documents accessible.
- Set paper size to A4 or 8.5×11″ paper with .5″ margins.
- Use 11 pt. font, single-spaced. Smaller text in figures, graphs, diagrams and charts is acceptable as long as it is legible when the page is viewed at 100%.
- A specific citation format is not required.
Content of proposal
The proposal should include:
- Header: Title; name and department of PIs; The name of any partner organizations amount of money being proposed to CREATE and to support partner organizations
- Goal: (1 paragraph) The goal of your work and why is it important.
- Justification for Translation Money: (1 paragraph) Why is translation money important for this project?
- Approach & Impact: (~1 page) What do you plan to do? What are the contributions you expect to make through this work? What stage of development is this work at? If this work is successful, what impact will it have on people with disabilities, disability advocacy, disability rights, disability justice, and/or disability communities? How will you evaluate this?
Stage of development is based on the NIDILRR criteria, and is defined as follows:
Proof of concept
Proof of product
Proof of adoption
- Stakeholder Engagement: (1-2 paragraphs) How will you engage with people with disabilities in doing this work? Do you plan to work with community or industry partners? At what stage(s) of the work?
- Ethical analysis: (0-2 paragraphs) If relevant, provide a disability-centered critical analysis (e.g. using Disability Studies, Disability Justice– and/or DisCrit as a lens) of the proposed work, highlighting any potential ethical concerns, if relevant. Things to consider addressing: How will this advance agency, independence and control for people with disabilities? If there is legitimate and foreseeable harm possible, how will you address it?
- Project Work Plan and Timeline: (1-2 paragraphs) What is the expected work plan for this project? The work plan should Include key activities and their expected durations. A Gantt chart is encouraged but not required.
Supplemental documents
- Project budget and brief justification: (up to ½ page) What is the total amount being sought from CREATE and how will it be used? Neither indirect costs nor alcohol will be allowed. Please include, depending on what’s relevant:
- Partner Organization Compensation
- User study fees and contractual services
- Supplies and equipment
- Other (specify)
- References (no page limit)
- Letters of support from any community or industry partners.
- Project team. append a 1- to 2-page CV, resume, or biosketch for each PI or person requesting salary and a current and pending document for each PI.
- Prior CREATE funding for this project: (0-2 paragraphs) Has this project in any form been previously submitted for CREATE funding? If so, how many times? When? Was it funded? Explain how this submission is different from before, and why you are seeking CREATE funding for this project again.
- Other prior CREATE funding: (attach reports) Have any personnel on the project team received other CREATE funding previously? If so, attach the project report for that prior funding.
- Suggested reviewers: Optional
For more information, contact create-leadership@uw.edu
Funded translation proposals
Affordable, easy-to-use switch kit
Mia Hoffman, Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is working on developing an affordable, easy-to-use switch kit alongside clinicians and families of children with disabilities, which will support early intervention services and provide access to developmentally appropriate games and other digital media for play and participation.
Podcast on research in biomechanical engineering
Sasha Portnova, CREATE Postdoctoral Fellow, is providing professional transcriptions for her podcast series, Gears of Progress, that covers research in biomechanical engineering in discussion with disability community members.
eSports Research Showcase
In April 2023, CREATE hosted its first ever Accessible eSports Showcase event, bringing together members of the CREATE community, local community organizations, tech and games Corporate Partners, and folks from all over the Seattle area looking to learn about and celebrate ongoing strides being made in making video games more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities.
Go Baby Go Workshop
Awarded to support the second Go Baby Go workshop, and first full-scale workshop since UW Go Baby Go was incorporated into UW in 2020. Ten battery-powered ride-on toy cars were adapted for safety and accessibility and distributed to children in the community. The modifications are custom according to each child and family’s needs and are provided at no cost to families to support access to multiple forms of mobility, exploration, and socialization. The workshop was held on Saturday, November 6th on the UW campus.